881/917 Malene Mortensen: Tell me who you are (Denmark 2003)

In my book it is seldom a good idea to change the language of the song before the grand final. It is ok to present the song from the beginning in English, but if you first choose a song in your own language and then change it, you usually lose more than you gain. That happened to among others to the eurosong 881, which represented Denmark in 2002.

When I first heard the song Denmark had chosen as their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, I liked it a lot. Vis mig hvem du er was a mystical ballad with good performance by Malene Mortensen. The danish lyrics made the song even more enchanting. The song was a favourite for many Eurovision fans like me.

But Denmark had the song re-written in English for the final in Tallinn as Tell me who you are. Gone was the mystique of the song, which turned out to be your usual love song with nothing to make it stand out from the others. To make matters worse, Malene Mortensen seemed not at ease on stage and her performance was far from perfect.

I was not the only one to spot the difference. Against all predictions Denmark finished last among 24 countries. The song was not that bad to have such a faith. But still, there is a lesson to learn here.

My points 3/5.